MORIGAON, SEP 29:
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said people are now asking why they could not get government jobs and medical seats without paying money during the Congress rule.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an election rally in Morigaon town for the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll, he said the political mood in the state had changed.
“No matter whatever they say, today people are asking this question: If during Himanta Biswa Sarma’s time we can get jobs without giving money, why couldn’t we get jobs when Congress was in power,” Sarma said.
“If during Himanta Biswa Sarma’s time we can get medical seats, why couldn’t we get them during Congress time?” he added.
Referring to the response to his campaign, the chief minister said his opponents were now being “chased away” by people.
“Today, it’s the opposite. They are being chased away; I am not being chased. Now I will go to Dhing; who will chase me? I am not being chased. Who are they chasing? Who are people chasing? Congress or me?
“Today, for the first time, I have seen that wherever they go, they are being chased away. It was never like this before. So, how much change has happened in Assam, you yourselves can feel it,” he said.
Earlier, addressing the rally, Sarma said the Congress had “lost its place” in Assam and had become “completely weakened”.
He also said elderly AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal should stop contesting elections and go for Haj.
Sarma said while he usually targets Congress as his principal political opponent at almost every election meeting, he focused mainly on development issues during the rally in an effort to attract voters towards the BJP.
The CM said during the previous term, the state government had provided government jobs to 1.6 lakh unemployed youths, and another 2 lakh people would now be appointed with the recruitment process to begin shortly.
He said five lakh unemployed youths would be brought under the chief minister’s self-reliance scheme, and besides the semiconductor project at Jagiroad, three new industries each would be established in Morigaon and Jagiroad.
A dairy revolution would soon be launched through formation of dairy cooperative societies involving women, he added.
Beneficiaries of the Orunodoi scheme would receive Rs 1,500 each before Durga Puja and 40 lakh women would be provided Rs 25,000 each under an entrepreneurship scheme, Sarma said.
Elections to the Tiwa Autonomous Council and municipal bodies would be held after the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election, he said.
Appealing to people to vote for BJP candidate Devasish Sharma, the CM urged voters to ensure his victory by a margin of more than one lakh votes for development and progress of the state.
The by-election in Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled on October 6, and counting will take place on October 9.
The bypoll in Nagaon has been necessitated after former Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the party just days before the Assam assembly election to join the BJP.
He won from the Dispur assembly constituency to become an MLA. (Source: PTI)
